


Well Now You Know

by KatTheGracefulKlutz



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Flirting, Minor Injuries, Not So Minor Injuries, Peanut Butter, Plot What Plot, Pony - Peter and Tony father son, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail, Secrets, Sitcom, Superheroes, annoying friends, cuteness, flash refuses to give up, jk theres a plot, kinda like a Disney sitcom, life is strange - Freeform, ok then, stupid nicknames
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-09 04:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13473495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatTheGracefulKlutz/pseuds/KatTheGracefulKlutz
Summary: "Peter...you… you’re Spider-Man?”“What? No! Who-who’s Peter?! Cause I certainly don’t know! Well anyway, goodbye random citizen of Queens—”“Peter Benjamin Parker. Do you take me for an idiot? Because we literally go to a school for geniuses."/OR/Peter fails to double check that no one follows him when he goes into that alley one day, which results in some new... issues. Let's hope the newest secret keeper can keep her mouth shut.





	1. Careless

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm kinda new here, I mean I've had this account for a fair amount of time, but I've never actually, ya know, posted anything here. I'm gonna keep this short, so that you can get on to reading the story, lol.

"I've arrived, large room of people that I will probably mainly dislike in the future."

Everyone's head turned at the self-introduction from the teen that had just entered the classroom. A girl Peter had never seen before was standing there, a kind of crazy-but-cute smile plastered on her face.

Ms. Warren looked up as well, beckoning the new girl in. The brown-haired beauty skipped to the front of the classroom, grinning. "Do tell me I'm in the right classroom, cause if I'm not I'm probably gonna do something stupid then dramatically exit."

"Zoe Frader?" Ms. Warren asked, receiving a nod from the teen.

She was a pretty girl, that was definite, and Peter was pleased to see that she wasn't dressed inappropriately (as far too many girls did). She was sporting a wrinkled plaid shirt with jeans, her long brown hair pulled into low pigtails.

"That's me! Sorry I'm late, I was abducted by aliens. After being transported to the mothership, the aliens decided not to suck out my brains. They sent me back home. But I do have good news! The aliens have decided that the human race is too dumb to be their slaves, and they've moved on to Mars." Zoe smiled proudly, while looking off into the middle distance overdramatically.

A few people chuckled, including Ms. Warren. "Would you like to tell the class something about yourself?" the teacher offered, half gesturing to the mostly groggy teenagers.

The brunette rubbed her hands together devilishly, smirking as she made her way to the front of the class. "Alrighty, but don't say I didn't warn you." she then turned to the rest of the class mischievously. "Aloha peoples whom I hast never met before!" she cleared her throat, then continued. "My name is Zoe, and I just moved here from Brooklyn — yeah, I know, really far — because of my parents' jobs. Anywho, I always carry a jar of peanut butter—" she produced one from her nearly-empty looking backpack, then dropped it back in. "I ain't looking for a boyfriend, so don't get your hopes up guys, cause I know I'm irresistible, and I most definitely didn't break out of an asylum. Yay! Oh, and I rule everything with an iron fist, pushing down those that get in my way. Long live the tyrant queen!" She pumped her fist in the air, resulting in a couple of whoops.

"Alright, um, thank you Zoe, take a seat somewhere please."

"I dunno Teach, the chairs look pretty heavy. Besides, where would I even take one to? I don't really feel like going on a Hawaiian vacation right now…" this earned a few giggles from her new classmates, and Peter couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"As much as I already enjoy your jokes, Zoe, we do need to begin class now."

Zoe gave a little salute, before spinning on her heel and looking at the two empty chairs thoughtfully. Flash had an empty chair by him, and so did — oh, geez — Peter. Flash gave her one of his flirtatious grins, which Peter nearly rolled his eyes at. Zoe gave a polite smile, but instead plopped loudly into the seat beside Peter.

Naturally, by this time, the entire class had begun talking. "Hi," she grinned at him, holding out her hand. "You already know my name. What's yours?"

"Oh, uh, I'm—I'm Peter. Peter Parker." he shook her hand with a nervous smile, trying to ignore the glare Flash was pointing at him.

"Well hello then, Peter Parker." she turned to Flash, who instantly changed the glare to a grin at the brunette. "Sorry 'bout that, I typically like sitting further towards the back. Perhaps another time."

"Right then! Now, if you did the homework last night, which, I trust most of you did…" Ms. Warren continued talking, and Peter went ahead on the worksheet. He was the top of the class, after all. Of course, as he absent-mindedly worked, his mind had gone right from math to — what else? — Spider-Man. God, he couldn't wait to get out of this stuffy school, and become the hero in red tights (he did not just mentally say that…), and swing around like Tarzan with webs… it was the highlight of every day, really, and he loved it more than almost everything (besides, you know, May, Ned, food, air, saving people, stuff like that! Oh, and of course sleep).

He was startled out of his thoughts by a semi-harsh hit to his side. "Wha?" he looked up, meeting the eyes of Zoe, who was raising an eyebrow at him.

"Dude, you were called on." she muttered.

"Oh! Uh…" he trailed off, having no idea what the question had been.

"How do you solve number 11." she added under her breath.

"Right, right! I know that…" Peter went on to explain how he had gotten the answer (and of course, was right).

"Nice job, Pineapple." Zoe remarked to him.

"Uhh, what?" he asked, confused.

"That's your name until I can think of a better one. Peter starts with a P, and Pineapple starts with a P, so it makes perfect sense."

Peter grinned slightly at her logic, even more so when she oh-so-inconspicuously pulled out her peanut butter jar, along with a spoon.

"Are you really going to eat that?" he asked as she opened the jar. Peanut butter was good for sandwiches, but eating it plain? Wouldn't it stick to the roof of your mouth? And it was dry. The jelly in the famous sandwich style made it perfect, but… peanut butter was just so… bland, alone.

"Are we really in class right now?" she offered back, shrugging as she scooped a comically large spoonful of the brown substance for effect. "Yes, yes I am. You got a problem with that?"

A FEW DAYS LATER

"How's the internship going?" Ned asked for what must have been the tenth time that week (okay, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration…) Peter gave a small laugh at his best friend.

"Oh, you know, the exact same as it was the last time you asked." he teased, while Ned whined. To be honest, it had been awfully dull recently. Ever since he had turned down Tony's offer to be an Avenger, he hadn't really been contacted, and that worried him.

"Honestly though, it's kind of boring right now."

"Spider-Man, boring?" Ned stared at the spider themed superhero like he had two heads. "Dude, how is it boring?!"

Peter shrugged his shoulders as he opened his locker, switching out supplies. "Well, you know that Mr. Stark hasn't really contacted me since Homecoming..."

"It hasn't been that long." his best friend replied, while shuffling around in his own locker (which was somehow even messier than Peter's), until pulling a folder out of it. "Anyway, did you hear about that blog about you? Er, about Spider-Man."

Um, no. He had not, in fact. Did it really come as that much of a surprise, though? I mean, it was Peter, he was always out Spider-Manning, he didn't exactly have time for a social life. "There's a blog about me? Like, a single post, or…?"

"The entire blog is dedicated to you!" Ned squealed quietly. "It's awesome, you need to check it out!" Yes, he squealed. Kay then…

"That's so cool!" Peter exclaimed in excitement. Yeah, he had been on the news and stuff, but an entire blog dedicated to him?—Spider-Man— I don't know about you, but he found it insanely cool.

"Hey guys!" Zoe greeted from behind the two. Ned jumped, startled, while Peter just chuckled at his best friend's jumpiness. "What's cool?"

"Oh! Um… you know, just like…" Ned cleared his throat, looking around as subtley as he could manage, "Peter's… explanation of…" he looked at the superhero for help, blanking.

"Thermodynamics!" Peter nodded along, giving a nervous chuckle.

"That is exactly what we were talking about, thermodynamics." Ned nodded vigorously, until Peter hit him lightly to get him to stop. "Yes, thermodynamics."

"Uhh… you… sure, about that?" the brunette raised her eyebrows, looking slightly concerned.

"Of course!" Peter grinned as confidently as he could at his new friend.

This earned a shrug from Zoe. "Yeah, okay." Wow, she was easily convinced… Peter would have laughed triumphantly at his brilliant lying skills, but, you know, Zoe was still there. "Anyway, what are ya'll doing after school?"

"Stark internship," Peter replied, almost automatically. What, with the number of times he had said it in the past few months, he felt like a broken record.

"And I've got to go see my grandma." Ned added, looking at her, "Why did you wanna know?"

"Just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out or somethin. My parents say I need to get out of the house, make friends and stuff."

"Sorry, maybe another time." A part of Peter was actually kind of sad to have to decline. Nobody ever wanted to hang out with him except for Ned, especially not a girl. Being a superhero seriously messed with his social life…

"Yeah…" Zoe gave a small sigh, before grinning again. "Well, if you get out of the internship before midnight, shoot me a text. I'll probably be up. Later, guys." She spun on her heel, waving as she walked down the hallway.

"Well that was weird." Ned commented after a minute.

"What was?" Peter asked, confused.

"A girl talking to us and not insulting us."

"Well she's talked to us before…" Peter offered, shrugging. Although not a lot, and not really both at the same time all that much. But definitely more than she had talked to other people (from what he had observed). It was… weird, to say the least. But at least it was weird in a good way.

The rest of the day's classes passed pleasantly fast for Peter. Before he knew it, there were five minutes left of the day before he could go home.

The teacher droned on, people mouthed words or whispered to each other, Peter was tapping his pencil rapidly against his leg, and in front of him, Zoe ate peanut butter casually.

Flash was looking over at her every little while (Peter wasn't a stalker or anything, the teacher was just in that general direction…), but the girl seemed unaware to it.

Finally, the bell rang. Peter sprang from his chair, scooping his things into his backpack, before bolting from the room. He didnt even realize that he had forgotten his homework folder.

Zoe nearly let out a startled gasp when Peter almost ran into her as he rushed out of the classroom. What could possibly lead to that amount of urgency? She kept quiet, however, and glanced at his desk - where a blue folder was sitting, undoubtedly Peter's. If she hurried, she could probably catch him.

Boys and their forgetfulness, she grinned to herself as she grabbed the folder and hurried after said boy. Peter kind of reminded her of someone… two people, actually. Specifically, her two best friends from back home. Shut up Frader, you can be homesick when you get home.

She had just exited the school when she saw Peter glance around, before jumping over the gate effortlessly. Okay, that wasn't normal… it was a dang tall gate… how had he done that?

Zoe frowned, speeding up to catch up with Peter. What the heck was that? Why wasn't she calling out for him to stop? Why was she suddenly feeling rather suspicious about the closest person she had to a friend at her new school?

She felt guilty about following him, but he was definitely hiding something. He was always running out of class, and he seemed to always have a bruise or two somewhere on his body. And this was after three days of her attending this school! Something had to be going on.

After a few minutes, Peter ran into a small deli. Zoe decided to wait outside, at a safe distance, because she certainly couldn't go in without Peter noticing her.

Little time passed before Peter ran out again. He crossed the street, and ducked into an alleyway. An alleyway? Well, that totally wasn't sketchy in any way at all… what was he, a drug dealer or something?

Zoe lingered outside the alley, debating with herself. Following him could be potentially dangerous, or a serious invasion of privacy. It wasn't really any of her business… but she hadn't followed him for nothing…

With a deep, yet silent breath, she entered the alleyway. Someone was making an awful lot of noise… then she saw it. Peter was pulling a Spider-Man mask over his head, then pressed his hand to his chest. And then he shot a web. Like, a legit, Spider-Man web.

Oh. My. God.


	2. Screw Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The secret’s safe with her, right? She could tell somebody evil… like _Flash_ …”  
> God help them both on that day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *game show host voice* aaaand we're back!  
> Thank you for your lovely reviews!  
> Also, I'm having some trouble figuring out how to bold and italicize, so... keep in mind some of the words or phrases are actually meant to be italicized. Whoops :/

Leave school, go to the deli, become Spider-Man, repeat. It was a simple process, really.

Why did he have to screw it up so bad?

He had spun around at the sound of plastic hitting the concrete, only to see Zoe staring at him in shock.

He blinked. She blinked. "Y-you… Peter, you're…" she looked to be at a loss for words. "You're Spider-Man!"

Peter frantically shook his head, denying the ridiculous idea. "What? No! Who-who's Peter?! Cause I certainly don't know! Well anyway, goodbye random citizen of Queens—"

"Peter Benjamin Parker." She crosses her arm, giving him a mom look. "Do you take me for an idiot? Because we literally go to a school for geniuses. And you're not even disguising your voice!"

Peter sighed, defeated. God, he had been so careless! How had he not noticed her following him? Why had she followed him? "I-I…" he chokes, unable to form words. "Surprise…" he chuckled weakly. His mouth felt so dry, and he was suddenly way more sweaty.

"Are you okay? Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone!" Zoe assured, throwing her hands up as if to prove she was unarmed.

"I - I just mean… God!" Peter swore as he began to pace anxiously. "This is so bad… why did you even follow me?"

"You… you forgot your homework folder." She bent down, scooping up the item in which she had previously dropped upon discovery of the superhero. "So… you're like, Spider-Man?"

"We've established this, yes." he hoped that didn't sound rude. He was already under so much stress, and if Mr. Stark found out, what if he decided that he was too irresponsible to ever be an Avenger? He couldn't risk that. Yes, it had been offered once before, but he had no idea if it was still standing.

"Dude, that's so cool!" she looked excited, her eyes glistening with curiosity.

"You can't tell anyone." Peter insisted, practically begged, looking at the entrance to the alleyway nervously. "Like, anyone!"

"I know, I know! Secret identity, people will come after you and everyone you love, blah blah blah. I'm not an idiot, you know." she began to pace. "Who else knows?"

"Nobody! Well I mean, Ned knows, but other than him — and Mr. Stark, cause he made my suit—"

"TONY STARK MADE YOU THAT?"

"SHHHH!" Peter shushed her frantically, trying not to let his panic show through. It probably wasn't working. Okay, scratch the probably, it wasn't working. "Hold on, how do you know my middle name…?"

"I just found out you're a superhero, and you want to talk about your middle name?" she crossed her arms. "I make it my business to know everything about everyone. And this classifies under everything. How did you get your powers? Why did you decide to be a hero, and not a villain? How did you meet Tony Stark? Are you an Avenger? Is this the Stark Internship? Why—"

"You, ah, have a lot of questions." he ran a hand through his hair nervously. Tony was going to kill him—

"Is that your backpack?"

"What?" he looked up, glancing in the direction his friend was half pointing. "Uh, yeah. Whatever, it doesn't matter—"

"How long do your webs last, Spider-Boy?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow, looking terrifyingly like a parent person.

"Uhh, like two hours…"

"It's been stolen before, hasn't it?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"This is my uh… eighth one in the past three months…" he scratched the back of his neck, smiling awkwardly. "Yay…?"

Zoe facepalmed, shaking her head in shame for her friend. "God, Peter… I can't even begin to explain how simple it is to solve this problem." she grabbed one of the straps, attempting to free the bag from Peter's spiderweb. "This… is… so… stuck…" she muttered under her breath, pulling harder. After a moment of trying and failing, she turned to Peter. "It's stuck." she stated bluntly.

Peter laughed a bit, grinning. He really couldn't tell whether he was laughing because it was funny, or because he was so stressed. Either way, it was kind of nice. "Well that kind of is the point…" he replied, yanking it off of the dumpster with his super strength. "You know, keeping bad guys in place and such."

"Yeah, yeah," she took it from his hands, hoisting it over her shoulder. "Anywho, if you just had Ned take your backpack with him, it would never have been stolen."

"But Ned didn't know until like, a couple weeks ago!" Peter defended. Although, he reasoned with himself, it would have been a good idea to ask after he found out… dang.

"Well, fear not my damsel in distress, for I shall rescue you from your tower of being unable to keep a backpack!" she laughed at him, patting his head. "I'll bring it over to your apartment."

"But you don't know where I live…" Peter trailed off as she slowly held up the key to his apartment. How the heck…? He didn't even keep that in his backpack, he kept it on him! "Uhh…"

Zoe smirked, wiggling her eyebrows. "I'm a witch, I know. I'm amazing. Hold your applause." Okay but seriously, how did she do that? She couldn't possibly be that good of a pick pocketer.

"Yes I am." she replied absently, observing her fingernails in deep thought.

"How did you—?"

She cut Peter off, speaking with a shrug. "I'm not a mind reader, it's just the first thing every single person ever thinks."

This somehow reminded Peter of his very dark and depressing death that awaited him when Mr. Stark found out that he accidentally let somebody he barely knew see him like this. "Listen, you can't tell anyone—like, anyone. Not your family, not your deaf cousin, not your dog." he put as much emphasis as he could muster on this, taking a second to breathe.

Zoe crossed her arms, a blank look on her face. "I'm allergic to dogs, dummy."

"Oh yeah… well, you get the point anyway, right?"

"Mhmm!" she nodded, cocking her head to the side. "Listen, Peter… I know you haven't known me for very long, and I know that I'm like, the last person you would ever want to find out about this—"

"—actually, Flash would be the 'last' person, but go on." Peter interrupted, before shutting up to let her finish.

"Yeah, okay, whatever, just let me get to the point. You can trust me, okay? I've never not kept a secret, like, ever. And it's not really like you have a choice, you can't just magically make me forget about this—"

"I mean, I could ask Mr. Stark to wipe your brain—" Peter joked, his chocolate colored eyes twinkling with laughter.

"What? No! I like having something in my noggin!" she immediately cried, before realizing that he wasn't serious. "Uhh… oh." she gave a half smile. "You know what, you look pretty eager to get to work… and this probably isn't a great time anyway, so how about we talk about this like, tomorrow or something?"

"During gym?" the superhero offered, half automatically; one of the most common places he and Ned talked about Spidey.

"At school? What, are you crazy? People could hear! I know for a fact how people like to eavesdrop. I myself happen to be great at it. But no! Not at school, never at school, bad idea! Unless you want another person to find out?"

Peter vigorously shook his head, "Definitely not."

"Great, we'll talk after school. Tomorrow's Friday, you should take a break. Too much Spider-Manning may be great for your soul or whatever, but it'll turn your brain to mush if you get no sleep, and it'll make your body into a living zombie. Mind if I come over after school tomorrow?"

"Uhh…" Peter thought about it for a minute. She probably wouldn't take no for an answer, and if he offered somewhere else, like Starbucks, she would most likely claim that it was too public. "Yeah, sure." he nodded wearily.

"See, right there. You're tired. You probably shouldn't even be going out today… at least promise to be in before midnight?" she looked genuinely worried about him. They barely knew each other and she was acting like an older sister or something. Peter liked to assume this would be a good thing for the future.

"Y-yeah… totally."

"Peter. Midnight."

"Fine…" he grumbled.

//////A few minutes later :)///////

This was so surreal. How did she, of all people, meet a superhero? And Spider-Man, no less! Which was definitely not her celebrity crush… starting now. I mean, he was, but then Spider-Man was suddenly Peter, and she didn't really know whether that made Spider-Man less attractive or more. More would be weird, so she chose to go with less.

He wasn't all that bright for a genius though. Who wouldn't think of at least stashing their backpack somewhere more hidden before going out to swing around New York? Everybody in the world except for Peter.

Zoe entered Peter's apartment building, beginning the ascent to the seventh floor. And with her luck, the elevator was broken. Ugh, she should have made Peter take his own bag.

On the other hand, she was trying to make friends, and being nice makes you friends… nah, screw that. Well… she didn't want to be a jerk, necessarily… she just didn't want to be a one of those freakishly nice people. Those people were crazy.

Wait, but she was happy to be crazy… okay, crazy in a different way. Did she have any peanut butter left in her bag…?

"Finally." Zoe murmured to herself as she reached the seventh floor, going straight to Peter's apartment number (which was written on the key). She could be nice and bring it in, but she really just wanted to go home and finish processing this… so, she dumped the bag by the door, and descended the stairs quickly, hurrying home (which luckily, was relatively close to Peter's apartment building).

Before she could forget, she shot Peter a text telling him where his backpack was, before grabbing a tub of ice cream from the freezer (peanut butter and chocolate of course), and ran to her room, sitting on the bed (yes, they just moved, but they had gotten basic furniture set up when they first got there).

"So I've met a superhero." the brunette stated to herself as she thoughtfully licked ice cream off of a spoon. "Said superhero attends my school. Said school is a school for geniuses, while I am only slightly above average. Superhero is the biggest nerd in the grade. Superhero is my friend. Suphero is Spider — CRAP THAT'S COLD!" she shrieked at the unexpected coldness, glaring at her ice cream. "Don't think I didn't notice that…" Ohhh, that's why nobody ever wanted to sit with her at lunch.

Okay, now she understood that. It was rude to judge, but whatever. Being your full, insane self is how you find out who's truly wanting to be your friend, and who's just using you. Wow, her thoughts could be a reality show!—"Deep philosophical thoughts, with Zoe."

/////The next day, at school/////

"Wait, Zoe knows now too?" Ned questioned quietly, as there was a group of people near and he didn't want anyone to overhear. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know!" Peter replied, letting his head fall against the closed metal door of his locker. "She just kind of… followed me… and saw me put on the mask. But before I realized it, I totally gave myself away! And then she started telling me what I was doing wrong!"

"…interesting… okay then… The secret's safe with her, right? She could tell somebody evil… like Flash…" both shuddered at the mention of Peter's rival's name (nickname?).

"God help us on that day." Peter shuddered, entering the combo for his locker. "Not that he would believe it, he never would, but that would only result in—"

"—more taunting, bullying, and humiliation." Ned finished, nodding. "Life sure is fun."

"Obviously." Peter sighed, switching out the books in the little metal box of death (who hasn't hit their head on a locker at least once?). The best friends began their venture down the hallway, which luckily wasn't very crowded at the time.

A certain feminine brunette rushed up to the duo, out of breath. "Running… is not my… strong suit…" she panted, hands on her knees. She straightened up, giving a smile to the boys. "Morning!"

"Morning," Ned greeted back. So this was how it felt to have a girl talk to you willingly…

"Midnight?" she asked pointedly towards the teenage superhero.

"Uhh, yeah?" Peter replied. Zoe studied his face for a minute, before declaring,

"After midnight." she stated surely.

"How did you—"

She cut the arachnid themed superhero off, "You make a certain face when you lie. Not obsessed, just observant."

Ned stared at Zoe for a long minute. "Did you take lessons from Michelle or something? Seriously!"

"I don't know who that is." Zoe stated dully. Just then, the warning bell rang. "Onward, fellow losers!"

"...Are you sure you didn't?" the best friends asked in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was self edited. Hence why it's not up there with JK Rowling's books yet XD (I'm talking bout Harry Potter, ya'll XD)  
> You should review! It's good for the soul of the writer :) XD  
> Until next time, Kat signing off.

**Author's Note:**

> Please remember that criticism is welcome, but please don't be mean about it. Anywho, please review! I love those! They make me happy XD
> 
> I will try my best to update weekly from here on.


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